Zirconium-based amphoteric metal–organic framework membrane for blue energy harvesting

Authors/Creators

Rockson Kwesi Tonnah
Milton Chai
Mohammad Khedri
Milad Razbin
Yasaman Boroumand, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
Reza Maleki
Huan Xiao
Amir Razmjou, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
Mohsen Asadnia

Author Identifier (ORCID)

Yasaman Boroumand: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-9716-4609

Amir Razmjou: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3554-5129

Abstract

Salination of solutions of salinity gradient releases large-scale clean and renewable energy, which can be directly and efficiently transformed into electrical energy using ion-selective nanofluidic channel membranes. However, conventional ion-selective membranes are typically either cation- or anion-selective. A pH-switchable system capable of dual cation and anion transport along with salt gradient energy harvesting properties has not been demonstrated in ion-selective membranes. Here, we constructed an amphoteric heterolayer metal–organic framework (MOF) membrane with subnanochannels modified with carboxylic and amino functional groups. The amphoteric MOF-composite membrane, AAO/aUiO-66-(COOH)2/UiO-66-NH2, exhibits pH-tuneable ion conduction and achieves osmotic energy conversion of 7.4 and 5.7 W/m² in acidic and alkaline conditions, respectively, using a 50-fold salt gradient. For different anions but the same cation diffusion transport, the amphoteric membrane produces an outstanding I⁻/CO3²⁻ selectivity of ~4160 and an osmotic energy conversion of ~133.5 W/m². The amphoteric membrane concept introduces a new pathway to explore the development of ion transport and separation technologies and their application in osmotic energy-conversion devices and flow batteries.

Document Type

Journal Article

Date of Publication

1-1-2025

Publication Title

Carbon Energy

Publisher

Wiley

School

Mineral Recovery Research Centre / School of Engineering

Funders

Iranian Research Organisation for Science and Technology (034592)

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Comments

Tonnah, R. K., Chai, M., Khedri, M., Razbin, M., Boroumand, Y., Maleki, R., Xiao, H., Razmjou, A., & Asadnia, M. (2025). Zirconium-based amphoteric metal–organic framework membrane for blue energy harvesting. Carbon Energy. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1002/cey2.70050